Published: 7 July 2017 at 10:30
New research suggests guru techniques polarise opinion among employees
Unusual ploys from international management gurus – such as bosses dressing up as animals during training sessions to reflect qualities such as teamwork and introduce humour – turn off UK workers, according to research published in the journal Management Learning.“The gurus’ intention was that an employee seeing their line manager dressed up as an animal would make them smile and engage with that person, helping with the process of getting their ideas across.
“However, our research found that this does not translate well into UK culture and many employees were extremely cynical of the exercise. While some laughed along with the session in a positive way, others distanced themselves and were reluctant to take part.
“In addition, they found it harder to take the managers seriously and this led to the messages not getting across.”
“Management appear to have learned a lesson as the dressing up has now been abandoned in the UK arm of the company and it suggests that managers need to be cautious when implementing new management ideas as they can have unintended consequences.”